I am a diehard Seahawk fan - born and raised in Seattle, had season tickets with my dad since the Rick Mirer era until I moved away after graduating from UW. I now live in Athens, GA - I'm here for law school - and I am surrounded by Falcons fans who don't take our Seahawks seriously.

My question is: how do you think our 'Hawks match up with the Falcons? I'm not afraid of them personally. Their defense is soft and their offense can be contained (as evidenced by the Cardinals' performance against them in ATL a couple weeks ago.)

Thoughts? How do y'all think we match up against the Falcons? Potential playoff opponent, yes? (I just finished finals and am super hammered so sorry if this post isn't incredibly well organized/thought-out.)

They are a paper tiger. Soft. It's funny that you say the fans down there don't pay much attention to our beloved Seahawks. I don't pay much attention to the Falcons. They aren't built for January playoff football and we appear to be hitting our stride at just the right time.

I think you guys both make valid points. BUT - I've had a chance to watch all the Falcons' games, and as excited as I am about our boys I have to admit I'd be a little concerned about our chances against the Falcons on the road.

I will try to briefly explain my concern. Matt Ryan is the real deal (even though he hasn't proven **** in the playoffs...). Roddy White and Julio Jones are both extremely talented. I think we could neutralize those two (even if Sherm is suspended for the playoffs), but what really concerns me is the fact that they also have Harry Douglas (speedy slot receiver) and Tony Gonzalez (aging but still a huge factor, particularly on 3rd down... shudder.... and in the red zone). Michael Turner doesn't have half the talent of our Beast, but he's good enough to keep defenses honest.

This concern is probably solely borne out of intoxication and inundation with Falcons propaganda. But I do legitimately wonder if we'd have trouble stopping them, particularly on the road. The Falcon's oline isn't all-world, but I worry that if we couldn't get pressure on Ryan with our front 4 we might get carved up. (This is all caveated by the fact that I think we could put some serious points up against them, even on the road.) Anyway..... does my further explanation of my fears give anyone else pause!?!?!?

Falcons win from generally having good play calling from what I have seen. A good mixture of run pass that keeps the defense guessing and makes players think more then react. I think our D matches up well enough to make the offense sputter minus the x-factor of Jaquizz. Shifty backs like that in the screen and dump off passing game seem to tear us up. If we could get a little pressure and start thumping some of their players, I think things would break down for the Falcons.

On offense, the Seahawks would wear their D down and probably put up 20 something. The Atl D plays mistake free but I don't see anyone on the D that would outmatch the O. Marshawn would dink, dunk, and thump 4-5 ypc and Russ would sustain drives. I would say the 4th quarter will be the quarter where one of the defenses break and given the playoff history of Ryan and ATL, I would be comfortable putting money on the Hawks taking it 24-17.

It's actually a very good matchup for us given that Sherman plays. Better both Sherm and Browner play because that plays right into our hands with their bigger WRs even though WT3 played really well. Gonzales will be a pain, but Kam and the LBs will do a decent job on him. Not too worries about their run game. On offense I think we can run through them and give Wilson a fairly easy day while not having to throw the ball maybe even 20 times.

You don't luck into being the #1 seed so they're obviously quite good. That being said, I don't know there's a team currently in or on the outskirts of the NFC playoff picture I'd rather play right now except maybe Chicago and Dallas.

I think had we met in the early part of the season, Atlanta would have taken the game quite easily. At this point in the season? I think Seattle is playing better. And that's as much about the Seahawks as it is the Falcons. The Falcons seem to be slipping from their perch a bit, playing more not to lose than to win. I've seen their running game slipping and not being as deadly as it once was, and Matt Ryan seems to be making the same slide in recent weeks that Philip Rivers has made and is making poor decisions for his receivers. Anyway, that being said, it would be a 50-50 chance for both teams in Atlanta, and better towards the 'Hawks here in Seattle.

Our secondary (crosses fingers on Sherman) matches up with the Falcon's strength. The Falcons offensive linemen are a bit soft, IMO, and the real threat to us from the backfield is Rogers. That little dude is versatile. I think we could minimize, if not take away completely, Gonzalez.

The real change for them this year is that Nolan defense. This is not the same smallish tampon-2 that would get shredded in the playoffs, especially the secondary. they bait quarterbacks in the 10 to 20 yard area as good as anyone, and their safeties are good. I think a determined team can get them passing in the flats, short middle, and sidelines, and controlling the middle would be mandatory against the linebackers. Nolan likes to bring it, so I could see taking advantage of those hot reads. I try not to read too much into how they struggle with Newton, but our read option could work against their straight up D, like it did against Chicago.

I really like what a steady diet of Lynch and Turbin could do against them, though.

i look at the falcons like i looked at the texans... overrated.. GB, SF, Giants are the real threats..

now having said that, ryan is a good solid QB, and they have two very good recievers.. with our db's in we win, with them out, we lose... turner is like a bowling ball in the back field, but we do welll against big backs that don't cut and make people miss, so we have the advantage their.... he's no gore or AP...

from what i've seen there defense has holes, i think with the way our offense has been clicking, we can take advantage of that and move the ball, our red zone O has been excellent lately, so we would score some points.

to summarize, our full team against their full team, ( meaining all key personell in ) we win at home.. on the road, i give it a 50/50 chance...

Sarlacc83 wrote:Until the Falcons prove they can win in the playoffs, I'm not scared. Not scared of GB in GB, either. (Rodgers is playing terribly again.) No, it's the Giants and 49ers who worry me.

I don't think about what the Falcons did last year at all. They have a good team and home field advantage and create some matchup problems.

But yes, this year the Giants and Niners (and Packers, now that they are discovering their run game) are all worse matchups.

They've also blown their last bye in 2010. Matt Ryan has never won a playoff game and he's been there 3 times. That kind of thing weighs on a team and can turn into a self fulfilling prophecy, especially against a physical team like Seattle.

We seem to be peaking. If we can go to Buffalo and handle them easily, it gives this team more confidence about playing a road game. If we take care of business at home and win out, we're looking like a Giants team peaking at just the right time the last couple years. That being said, we make way too many dumb penalties. We extended 4 Cardiinals drives on Sunday due to penalties; just think of how few yards they'd have had if we could play a bit more disciplined. Against good teams, that will cost you the game, and it has this year for us.

The Falcons are very tough at home. They play almost mistake free football, and do all the little things right. To beat them, you have to be mistake free. I need to see the Seahawks play mistake free in Buffalo to know we can do it on the road. That said, the Falcons don't seem to have positive momentum, and they rely on big plays from their WRs a lot....they also seem a bit soft.

I'd like our chances against them, even there, if we win out and learn to handle business correctly on the road.

Sarlacc83 wrote:Until the Falcons prove they can win in the playoffs, I'm not scared. Not scared of GB in GB, either. (Rodgers is playing terribly again.) No, it's the Giants and 49ers who worry me.

I don't think about what the Falcons did last year at all. They have a good team and home field advantage and create some matchup problems.

But yes, this year the Giants and Niners (and Packers, now that they are discovering their run game) are all worse matchups.

They've also blown their last bye in 2010. Matt Ryan has never won a playoff game and he's been there 3 times. That kind of thing weighs on a team and can turn into a self fulfilling prophecy, especially against a physical team like Seattle.

Peyton Manning had his playoff struggles too. But you did hit on the key, physicality. Indy got over the hump when their physical dude, Bob Sanders, was making hay in the playoffs. I don't know if Atlanta has that kind of guy.

I think the Falcons are overhyped. And just like their season showed earlier from the start, they were undefeated but once the tougher part of the season begun they started losing. Also, there were lots of games that came down to the last minute. OVERHYPED!

Texans not as much, but I think Texans are the AFC's version of the Falcons.

The 2007 Falcons were 4-12 and then jumped to 11-5 with rookie Matt Ryan in 2008. From a hype, competitive life cycle standpoint, I see Seattle as the 2008 Falcons (i.e., one of the emerging powerhouse teams with the world in front of them). However, I see Seattle as having a much higher ceiling over the subsequent years and will hopefully realize the promise.

rainger wrote:Atlanta has only played 2 teams with winning records and both at home.

They got to play Denver when PM was still getting use to the team and them to he. Im addition Atlanta has not played a single team that currently are one of the 12 playoff teams.

What does that tell you. EASY SCHEDULE!.

I think the Hawks would be able to take them even in their home.

This is exactly what I was going to say. I think when it is all said and done, Atlanta will have had THE easiest schedule in the NFL. As stated they have only played 2 teams (SD and Tampa) who posted winning records when Atlanta played them. Their 2 losses come to NO and CAR not stellar teams to say the least. I think we would easily beat the Falcons. They are a paper tiger for sure.

The Falcons remind me a lot of the Lions, who if I remember correctly beat us earlier this year. They are both pretty soft in my book, but have a QB who is calm and cool and if he gets going then he could do exactly the same thing Stafford did to the Hawks. I think the home/away thing wouldn't make much difference in the playoffs. I just think if Ryan got on track, that he'd Stafford us to death and that would be that. So it would be imperative that the Seahawks set the tone early and just beat him up pretty badly and not allow a rhythm to be established. I don't think it would be easy by any means, and I think their past playoff record means very little. Eventually they are going to win a playoff game, and that could happen on any given Sunday. I've seen them look nearly unstoppable at times, which is pretty obvious by their record.